Lattice Boltzmann simulations of sound directivity of a cylindrical pipe with mean flow

This paper proposes a numerical scheme based on the lattice Boltzmann method to tackle the classical problem of sound radiation directivity of pipes issuing subsonic mean flows. The investigation is focused on normal mode radiation, which allows the use of a two-dimensional lattice with an axisymmetric condition at the pipe's longitudinal axis. The numerical results are initially verified against an exact analytical solution for the sound radiation directivity of an unflanged pipe in the absence of a mean flow, which shows a very good agreement. Thereafter, the sound directivity results in the presence of a subsonic mean flow are compared with both analytical models and experimental data. The results are in good agreement, particularly for low values of the Helmholtz number ka. Moreover, the phenomenon known as 'zone of relative silence' was observed, even for mean flows associated with very low Mach numbers, though discrepancies were also observed in the comparison between the numerical results and the analytical predictions. A thorough discussion on the scheme implementation and numerical results is provided in the paper.